Correlates of Loneliness in Persons With Spinal Cord Injury.

OBJECTIVE

To determine self-reported psychosocial factors that may be associated with loneliness in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI).

DESIGN AND

SETTING

Convergent parallel virtual structured interviews and quantitative questionnaires.

PARTICIPANTS

People with traumatic spinal cord injury >1 year prior (questionnaire data from n=20).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Three-Item Loneliness Scale, Craig Hospital Inventory of Environmental Factors (CHIEF), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Short Form-12 (SF-12).

RESULTS

Higher levels of loneliness correlated with increased environmental barriers (CHIEF r=0.7, P=.001) and more depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 r=0.67, P=.001), whereas environmental barriers also contributed to worse mental health outcomes (SF-12, Mental Component Score [MCS] r=-0.7, P=.004).

CONCLUSIONS

Loneliness in people with traumatic spinal cord injury is likely related to both internal and external factors.